Conyers office fowled up in turkeygate

DETROIT, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The director of a Detroit charity is wondering about 60 turkeys it entrusted to the office of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., for delivery to poor people.

The Gleaners Community Food Bank gave the 720 pounds of frozen birds to Conyers staff two days before Thanksgiving so they could pass them along to needy people, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

But the charity has yet to receive any confirmation that any turkey was delivered to a worthy recipient.

A Conyers aide who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal said staffer Elisa Grubbs and her cousin, Conyers' Detroit deputy chief of staff Marion Brown, along with a former Conyers aide, DeWayne Boyd, picked up the turkeys and later gave contradictory accounts of what happened to the gifts.

The unnamed staff member raised concerns in a memo sent to both the FBI and House Ethics Committee.

Boyd was convicted on seven counts of fraud last month in a scam he ran from Conyers' office in 1999.